Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam did not have the best of World Superbike starts. In the opening race at Phillip Island he crashed because of an electronics issue, which left his team in a race against time to get his bike fixed in time for race two.
The crash on turn 12 left his bike with a bent chassis, but he was fortunate to be able to be ready in time for the final outing, and the 30-year old was unhurt in the process.
Haslam did bounce back from the first race crash to take sixth place in race two, just behind his team-mate, Jonathan Rea. The Brit is confident that his crew know where the issues are with his bike, and feels that he has improved from the earlier free practice sessions on Friday.
“I had a big disaster in race one – we had a bit of an electronics issue and then the bike spun from under me at turn 12. We saw what that was and we know the problem in that area but the boys had to work really, really hard to get the bike ready for race two,” said Haslam.
“They put a good setting in the bike that allowed me to run consistent times similar to the leaders’ but we just had a few niggly issues that stopped me getting up to them. Me and Johnny had a good battle and then the race got red flagged.
“It was disappointing that we didn’t get to have a bit more fun out on the track but fifth and sixth for the team, considering the issues we’ve had, is not so bad.
“We’ll go back and work hard for the next one – we’ve made some steps forward since Friday but we didn’t get back to where we were at the test, which was a little disappointing. We know why though, and we’ll get it sorted for next time.”
